Melbourne does not have one junior basketball competition. It has several, each covering a different part of the city and run by a different body. Which one your child plays in is decided by which club they join, not by where you live exactly.
Written by Cameron James, founder and head coach at Liddicoat Basketball. Coaching juniors in Victoria for nearly a decade.
Last updated August 2026.
Basketball in Victoria grew from the ground up, association by association, rather than being designed from the top down. So instead of one metro junior league there are several, each with its own clubs, rules and season dates.
That is why two families in neighbouring suburbs can have completely different experiences of junior basketball, and why advice from one parent often does not apply to another.
An association runs basketball in an area. A competition is the league that teams actually play in, and it can span several associations.
The Greater Eastern Basketball Conference, for example, takes in teams from more than one association. So your child can be a member of one association and still play against clubs from another.
This list grows as we write them up. If a competition you are in is missing, email admin@liddicoatbasketball.com.au.
They are not the same competition with different names. Before you assume last season's habits carry over, these are the things that genuinely change.
You do not choose a competition directly. You join a club, and the club enters its teams into whichever competition it belongs to.
So the practical question is which club is near you and has room in your child's age group. The competition follows from that. If it matters to you, ask the club which competition they play in before you sign up, because a few clubs sit in more than one.
Next questions parents ask
Every competition in this guide
One game and one training a week leaves a lot of days spare. That is the gap I fill.